1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging device, an imaging method, a display control device, a display control method, and a program. More specifically, the present invention relates to an imaging device, an imaging method, a display control device, a display control method, and a program in which information for assisting a user in performing a focusing operation can be displayed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In video camera devices mainly for professional use, various types of auxiliary information are displayed on viewfinders mounted on the video camera devices to assist photographers in performing a focusing operation in a manual focus control mode.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-350224 describes a peaking circuit configured to extract spatial high-frequency components at an edge of a captured image from the captured image to increase the number of edge components before combining the edge components with the captured image, and display the captured image with the edge components on a viewfinder so that the edge is enhanced in the focusing process.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 3-11884 or 3-179976 discloses that technique results obtained by applying a high-pass filter to a specific area located in a center of a captured image are integrated and a one-dimensional parameter obtained as a result of the integration is displayed on a viewfinder to show the focus level.
In an image displayed with the use of the peaking circuit described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-350224, edges of subjects appearing in the image has been enhanced, which facilitates designation of an object to focus on and also facilitates easy focusing. In spite of such advantages, the use of a wide-angle lens or the like would increase the depth of field and decrease the size of a subject image on a screen. In the technique described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-350224, therefore, it is difficult to obtain an optimum focal position. In the technique described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2000-350224, furthermore, a subject image is merely displayed with the edge thereof enhanced, and would not allow a user to determine whether or not the current focal length value is optimum.
In a method of displaying auxiliary information described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 3-11884 or 3-179976, on the other hand, an overlay showing a parameter indicating a magnitude of a high-frequency component in an image is displayed on a viewfinder as, for example, a bar indicator, which facilitates the determination of the amount by which the focus level increases or decreases in accordance with the movement of the focal length of a lens. In spite of such advantages, in the technique described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 3-11884 or 3-179976, a parameter is set as a result of integration of all high-frequency components within a specific area on the screen. It is therefore difficult for a user to correctly recognize which subject within the area is in focus or it is difficult for a user to apply a high-pass filter to an area where a desired subject to focus on appears to calculate the parameter.